This second recording in Sophie Yates’s Rameau series (the first was released four years ago, 12/00) has it all – novelty, familiarity, sensuousness, audacity, musical authority and a beautiful sound.

The novelty is evident in the Gavotte that concludes the A major Suite – Rameau provided not one but six variations to follow it (quite unheard of in his day). The character pieces, ‘La poule’ and ‘La Livri’ in particular, will be familiar to listeners of French Baroque music. The sensuousness so evident in the opening Allemande and in the first of the ‘La timide’ rondeaux is the product of several forces – Rameau (to be sure!), Yates and her resonant and highly responsive harpsichord, built by Andrew Garlick. Her secret is to be found in the pacing of notes within beats and motives. It is, in the best sense, inégale, but completely devoid of cliché. The fascination never fades: her phrasing has a freshness that imparts a sense of adventure and discovery so appropriate to what she herself describes as the ‘escapist’ nature of this repertoire. It is Rameau who provides the audacity, but Yates who exploits it in the virtuoso movements such as ‘Les Trois Mains’ and ‘L’Egyptienne’ (listen for the upward scales in triplets!). She is utterly fearless in the valedictory La Dauphine.

At the heart of Yates’s performances is her undoubted musical authority. That ornamentation is for her second nature, is clear from the da capo section of ‘Les sauvages’, where she departs (appropriately enough) from the printed text. The wonderful sound she draws from her instrument is varied and always musical. The opening phrases of ‘L’indiscrète’, for example, chatter furiously while the delicate menuet in the G major suite sounds almost as if it is being played on a harp. Stunning!